Different Shoes
by EeveeGen9988
Summary: [One-Shot] Ayumu offers a solution to Yukiko's problem. For [Twelve Shots of Summer: Quarter Queller]


**Different Shoes:**

 **I do not own** _ **The World Ends With You**_ **, Square Enix does!**

 **Written for Twelve Shots of Summer: Quarter Queller - Week 7…**

* * *

Yukiko sighed, pursing her lips as she tapped her sneakers on the ground. Boy, never would she have thought that she wished they did have a mission to lose their existences over… For at least five minutes after Ayumu and her chatted, her body itched to do at least that.

"Is something wrong?" Ayumu asked as he turned his head towards her, getting up from the bench he had been relaxing on.

"Nothing- just fucking _nothing_!" she snapped, turning away once she saw him frown.

"Are you sure?" Ayumu pressed with concern as he approached her slowly, tilting his head to one side. "You don't normally sigh like that."

Yukiko huffed at that, "Do you normally listen to my effing sighing?"

Ayumu nervously shifted when she said that. "No, that would be rather pointless."

" _Exactly_ …" Narrowing her ebony eyes, Yukiko grumbled under her breath a bit before she growled, "There's nothing fucking wrong- only that we've got absolutely fucking nothing to do!"

"Well, I don't see what the problem is then." Ayumu grimaced slightly.

"We got fucking nothing to do, didn't you hear me say that!?" Yukiko shouted in frustration as she hissed in a deep breath, expelling it within moments as she went on almost agitatedly, "It's just- _why_?"

Ayumu gathered his hands together. "Hmm… I would have thought you'd like the fact that we can just relax." He gave her a smile. "You didn't have a problem with it two days ago."

"You blindfolded me, _dammit_!" spat Yukiko as she threw a dirty glare at him. "Just to play fucking Tin Pin!"

"And you enjoyed it."

Yukiko mentally punched herself when she replied to that, "Without the damn blindfolding… I guess." She then narrowed her eyes into slits as she grumbled coldly, "Although, finding out you're the bloody half-brother of the prissy moron who runs this dumb shitty Game wasn't the most fucking fun experience I was fucking dragged into during my damn life!"

The blond boy frowned after she was finished speaking, looking down at his feet as he sadly spoke, "Okay... you have me on that one, Yukiko."

Yukiko snorted at that, looking away from the blind psychic. Something about not doing anything made her feel like Izo was messing with them again, and she felt the need to check her gloved hand every few seconds for whether or not they missed the mission text. After all, the cheap fucking stunt pulled on their lives yesterday made her body tense when thinking about it, and despite how she felt earlier… relaxation was far from what she fucking wanted now.

Ayumu sighed, "Are you really going to stay like this?"

"That fucking depends on whether or not you'll keep your damn nose out of my damn head…" grumbled Yukiko through irritation, crossing her arms. "As much as I damn want to _not_ risk my bloody existence, I wish they'd fucking knock us out already."

"Well, they probably won't do that until they're satisfied with how long they've let us run around freely," Ayumu explained as he picked at his long-sleeves idly, closing his eyes as he went on, "They're probably trying to make a final check before they plunge us into our final mission, and it's likely that they're also trying to smooth Izo's plan over with him. I mean, he did do something illegal in Reapers' Game standards, so it's likely that they're making sure he won't do anything out of bounds for his role."

"Feh, great fucking job they're doing then!" she shook her head as she lazily breathed that sarcastically. "I can hardly damn wait for them to try their fuck luck with me."

"I don't think they're going to pester us today, Yuki."

"Oh yeah?" Yukiko sweetened her tone slightly before speaking harshly, "When have they _not_ fucking left us alone?"

"I didn't say that, it's more of them doing their jobs." Ayumu blinked. "It's not that they don't care about our choices and actions right now, on a Player's day-off they still have to study every little thing we do. After all, the Reapers' Game's rationale is to judge those who have another chance at life in any way possible, even if it's to the Players' breaking point, Yuki."

"Fucktastic," she retorted bitterly as she rolled her eyes. "I feel _so_ comforted by your fucking explanation, Ayumu."

After a long time of Ayumu staring at her silently, he blinked. "Well anyway, it's not like the Reapers are gladly going to pop up now and make you run laps around Shibuya, Yuki."

"Oh fuck no, I already did plenty fucking loads of that when I was bloody alive..." Yukiko hissed slowly with a roll of her eyes. "I only wish that there was something fucking worthwhile to do, feh."

"Heh, then what would you want to do about that?" asked Ayumu, mildly amused by her response for some damn reason. "What would you like to do?"

Yukiko furrowed her eyebrows, taking a second to actually think about that. From all the hell she's been through so far, it was surprising that her mind drew up a blank for that matter. And she would have thought beating up Neku would have been something she would be raring to do right now.

She bit her lip, growling before heaving a sigh, "No fucking clue."

The petite blond chuckled at that, shaking his head lightly. "Well, we already did what I wanted, so I'd like to know what you would like to do." After a second or two, he put in quickly, "But… stealing from people or harassing Reapers would be something I'd rather not take part with you at the moment."

" _Dammit_ ," she breathed slowly, "It's not like you ripped off two of my fucking favourite things to do off my damn list, Ayumu..."

Ayumu made a face at that. "Okay…" He began to look around, blinking before he spoke again, "Perhaps we can do something that appeals to you without disrupting anyone else…"

"Feh, like bloody what?" Yukiko asked simply.

It was quite a while until Ayumu replied to that, "Considering how it _is_ the day before Day 7…" Ayumu fully faced her as he frowned. "Maybe we can practice on some Noise?"

" _Excuse me_!?" Yukiko spat in disbelief. "You actually think we should waste our damn time with bashing those shitty animals!?"

"What's wrong?" asked Ayumu in an odd tone. "I thought you wanted to have something worthwhile to do…?"

"Of fucking course!" She clenched her fists as she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "My brain is bloody melting from all the damn time mocking us!"

"Then how about we do something about that." Ayumu smiled, pointing from himself to her as he explained, "How about we have our own missions?"

She slowly narrowed her eyes at him. "...What the fuck do you mean…?" she asked lowly.

The boy closed his pewter eyes. "I give you a challenge, and you give me a challenge. We both fight at the same time with the same Noise, but we both have an objective to complete before the battle is finished."

Yukiko couldn't help but raise her eyebrow from that. "But if we both fucking fight at the same fucking time…"

"We can always do a chain-battle," supplied Ayumu in a chirp. "One fight would only be too short, but if we really want to push ourselves... why not go for more?"

With a huff, Yukiko rolled her eyes. "...Alright, it is bloody something…" She frowned deeply as she asked straight after, "But what's the effing catch?"

"Huh?" Ayumu blinked in confusion. "There's no catch?"

"Whenever there's a fucking deal made, whoever fucking brings it up normally is holding back damn information," she growled slowly, leering at him coldly.

His expression morphed within moments, a scowl burning from his face now as he asked lowly, "Do you really think I'm my half-brother?"

Yukiko wanted to reply to that, hurt tone stashed within his curt words made her words flee. He scowled for a while more before he sighed sadly, "Alright, then how about this: you have to be able to not charge in and bash Noise." Yukiko was about to make a sarcastic comment about the challenge when he raised his hand up; his pewter eyes locking with her ebony. "I want you to just plan out your attacks before every move- and not get hit once."

"What the _hell_!?" Yukiko lashed her arm towards Ayumu. "That is fucking _shit_!"

"I know you're fast, and that you tend to batter anything," Ayumu spoke quietly, "so how about we refine your tactics a little?" He gave a small shrug after that. "I mean, to be quite honest, you should be capable of doing that for a while."

" _Okay_ -" Yukiko sharply pointed at Ayumu. "Since you're really making it fucking stupid for me- you better not do any stupid shitty blocking and hit the damn Noise head on whenever you see an opportunity-" As Ayumu's mouth slowly drew open, she quickly cut in, "Don't think- just fucking fight, Ayumu!"

Ayumu grimaced, not appearing to be any happier than her about what they were supposed to do. "You do realize I have to think about what I'm doing if I'm going use my powers effectively-"

" _Aw_ , too fucking bad then!" she sneered harshly, clasping onto her Player Pin hard the moment she found it in her pocket. "You gave me the bloody poison- and _I'm_ using it how I fucking want to!"

Quickly, through the pain that threatened to crumple her skull, she yanked over three sets of Noise Symbols over towards them before scowling at Ayumu as they were engulfed by light.

Three Hawk Noise hovered in front of her, cawing as their bright green tattooed wings flapped hard while their orange eyes settled on them. Yukiko immediately clenched her fists, ready to give them the painful medicine they deserved when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Whipping her head, she noticed that Ayumu raised an eyebrow as he brought his hand back to tap his head with a stern look. Cursing aloud, she abruptly pointed at them as she hissed, "What are _you_ damn waiting for _then_!? Do your shit!"

Ayumu turned back, immediately creating two shaky twisters that flanked his sides and hurled them at the Noise. From the look on his expression, Yukiko could tell he was disappointed from how they did barely any damage to their foes.

Yukiko snorted from that, soon widening her eyes and crying out when from the corner of her eye she spotted a powerful dust flying towards her. If she hadn't thought to jump backwards, she would have already been struck.

After a while of dodging, making sure she had enough space between herself and the Noise, she checked up on Ayumu. She noticed how his attacks were coming out half-baked, only flimsy wisps of yellow that would merely tickle the feathers of the Hawk Noise. Yet within seconds, he grasped onto one of them; his aura firmly settled around their frame as he sent them into one of their allies. For the other one that hadn't been used as a living bowling pin set, Ayumu simply flicked his hand and its head twisted at an angle it should never be positioned at, causing the Noise to burst into static particles.

 **'Hmph…'** Yukiko turned her attention to the downed pile of squawking Noise. **'It doesn't even look like he's fucking struggling.'** Biting her lip, she felt the impulse to bash the Noise until they were nothing, but tried her best to root herself to her spot. **'But _dammit_ \- once I get out of this fight I'm going to punch his bloody head in!'**

Bringing her hand into a shaky fist, she summoned whatever energy she could muster as a dark shadow extended from her hand. She just wanted to flick the Noise into the wall and be done with it- but Ayumu would probably not accept that as 'carefully planning things through'. She instead, to her frustration, reached her shadowy arm out and pushed down on the Noise, grounding them where they lay crumpled until light filled her vision again.

Standing alongside Ayumu again, she saw that this time two Garage Wolves were waiting for them. They growled threateningly before howling as they sprinted towards the two of them.

"Getting tired of waiting?" asked Ayumu, making Yukiko blink in surprise at his slight smug tone.

"Fuck no- just fight already!" she hissed as she shoved him forward, watching as the Wolves were sent backwards when he brought up his palms. She questioned whether or not he had shielded himself when he abruptly brought up his other hand, expelling a tinted whirlwind that threw the Noise further across the Scramble Crossing's intersection.

Ayumu gave her a quick look, one that touched on the fact that he seemed curious about what she might do. But Yukiko ignored it, keeping her gaze now on the Garage Wolves that were slowly rising to their paws. **'Are you enjoying this, Ayumu…? Are you!?'** she thought bitterly as she gritted her teeth, growling as the Garage Wolves now were heading towards her. **'It's not like I'm making a damn show out of this for you!'**

She quickly dodged each Noise, feeding energy into her fist before canceling her Psych upon recalling she couldn't just attack the Noise here and now. So she kept dodging, glaring at her friend before finally managing to gain a break from her unkempt footing. **'Dammit- why the hell am I even doing this!?'** she thought furiously as she watched Ayumu run in to hurl the Noise up with his twisters, clenching her fists hard as she growled. **'I could have _fucking_ murdered them already! We could have _fucking_ finished this fight _ten_ , _shitty_ , _minutes_ _ago_! But no- _oh no_ \- I have to fight effing _carefully_ for his bullshit challenge!'**

It pretty stupid how she was sucking up to this, and she wondered to herself if it was worth the trouble if she was wasting so much of her time. Thinking about what every fucking little thing she had to do was something fucking morally addicted people did- not her! She would rather get things done, and she had bloody enough of this!

With a growl, she pushed herself forward, cursing when she found herself further ahead than she intended. But instead of dwelling on the already annoying problem, she allowed herself to let her mind drift so her adrenaline could take control. She used Midnight Strike to knock them over, finishing them off with a couple of fast clouts thanks to Starry Assault. By the time the next shitty light-show came and fucking went, she quickly took care of the Noise almost effortlessly, soon finding herself back in the Scramble Crossing with Ayumu again.

When she met Ayumu's blank gaze, she crossed her arms and hissed harshly, "That was _fucking_ _annoying_!"

Ayumu frowned at that, and she expected him to lecture her about how she should be mindful of what she should have been doing when he closed his eyes and lightly shook his head. She was confused by the way he smiled as he mused, "…You know, I think I figured something out about you, Yuki."

"What the fuck is it?" she asked through an annoyed growl.

"You can't win the race slow and steady- it's not how you're wired."

The scrawny girl slowly drew her eyes into ebony slits, trying figure out what he was trying to convey.

"You're more for action- you can't stop yourself from doing the one thing you're supposed to do," Ayumu went on in mirth. "It's like making a tortoise run and have a hare not bolt from danger, and I guess this proves something..."

Yukiko groaned as she pursed her lips. "Proves fucking what?"

"That you'll do whatever you want, and don't care about how others think of you." Ayumu grinned cheekily right after, making Yukiko roll her eyes at him.

"How fucking nice of you to notice…" Yukiko grumbled before cuffing Ayumu hard in the arm.

* * *

 **\- END -**

 **I hope you enjoyed the story! =3**

 **…**

 **EeveeGen9988: To tell you the truth, this was an interesting idea that I had for an one-shot. I mean, for the first week of [Twelve Shots of Summer: Quarter Queller], I was going to do a piece with Ayumu and Yukiko, but decided against it for some reason I can't remember. Anyway, I thought this was a fun story that I tried to loosely base it on/ borrow some elements from _T_ _he Tortoise And The Hare_.  
**

 **If you're confused about where this fits in with the timeline of one of my main stories, _The World Ends With You Two: Unsealed Fates_ , this story happens during Week 2. Now you may be thinking, why would I do a one-shot that would place in another story and wouldn't that be not a one-shot? Well, it is a one-shot. It isn't necessarily attached to the main plot, plus, the idea of it and what happens here seem standalone enough for me. You can either accept this as part of Unsealed Fates, or just turn a blind eye and deny this is canon and that it isn't part of Unsealed Fates. It's up to you, people! =3**


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